Selective Mutism (SM) is an anxiety disorder usually discovered at the time a child first enters kindergarten and distinguished by the child’s failure to speak in social situations, to peers, teachers, and other individuals. However, usually, there is no sign of the disorder when the child is at home where he or she communicate on an average basis (Tannock, Manassis, & Martinez, 2015).
According to Martinez, Tannock and Manassis (2015), one of the problems of SM research is the lack of support for SM children in the classroom. This gap affects this population …show more content…
The study 's purpose was to evaluate the possibility and effectiveness of a behavioral intervention to decrease symptoms of selective mutism (SM) and increase SM children’s verbal communication (Bergman, R.L., Gonzalez, A., & Piacentini, J., 2013). Bergman, Gonzalez and Piacentini (2013) hypothesized that an effective treatment would show a statistically substantial decrease in symptoms if compared to a Waitlist (WL) condition.
Twenty participants age 4 through 8 with SM were randomly chosen. Data collected was by telephone and all parents completed an informed consent form. IRB approved the study. A 17 item parent report (SMQ) that measured SM behaviors and treatment effects were analyzed using a comparison of SM children and a no control group without SM. Scores of both groups were compared using ANOVA. The strength of this study was the use of more than one assessment modality (Strong, 1998). Also, blind evaluating and ratings also helped to eliminate researcher bias and allowed for transferability. (Bergman, R.L., Gonzalez, A., Piacentini, J. …show more content…
The study’s purpose was to measure how much knowledge the school psychologists had regarding intervention used when an SM child was identified. The research questions asked (Ellis, 2015): What percentage of practicing school psychologists know what selective mutism is? What percentage of practicing school psychologists have treated SM, What methods/interventions have school psychologists used to treat SM? What results have they had? What kind of training has school psychologists had to work with selective mutism? Are there differences between practicing school psychologists based on years of experience? (p.